Enormous gentle beasts

Speaking and recognizing more than humans know

Cooperating and following one another until death

A female at the stern, milk from her belly

Living almost as long as we, yet in harmony

Posing a threat only in defense, using their size only as deterrent

When they could control and cause infinitely more destruction

They are more keen to mourn loss, greet one another in celebration

And move on toward the next watering hole

Their wrinkled thick skin effective for sun and heat

Beauty more deeply expressed through intelligence and remembering

Survival depending on knowledge and community

Lessons cultivated over 25 million years evolution

Better equipped are they than us in so many ways and on all levels

Communities strong, traveling far distances together, for food, for water

And for love and family, mating a celebration of a continuum, not competition

Among these female giant gentle beasts of plain and jungle

-by Laura Garrard

Laura Garrard is an artist, editor, nationally certified massage therapist, certified lymphatic therapist and Reiki master teacher who lives in Jackson, Wyoming.

At Sunrise

Just at sunrise

a brilliant white arc flashes

around the corner of the

Dutch hip of my home,

beaks black against the morning green sky.

Looking up I catch only the thrust of eight wings,

long necks wobbling with the beat.

Swans.

They’d not announced their approach,

only soundlessly curled toward the east

to light on still water and feed.

- by David Porter

David Porter lives in Jackson and teaches at Journeys School where he is the Upper School Curriculum Coordinator. David teaches students to have an empowered voice in writing and in speech.

Stoke the Red

What do you do upon waking up one morning to find your northern world turned winter white,

Wondering, quietly over a pre-dawn mug of tea,

If in your pursuit of peace—all unruffled serenity and communion with silent mountains—

Has been at the expense of passion?

It’s been so long since you felt red in this gigantic, pristine white,

You almost forgot you missed it.

Stop what you’re doing; put down the mug;

Seek the Red immediately.

That fierce, hot, southern thing that won’t be frozen into stillness.

The wild woman who lives inside the wise one.

Take some moments to stoke the red—me? I seek music, the kind that is flounce-filled, foot-stomping, with flames that lick my fingers—

One song leads to the next; something is leading me on, click, click, click.

And I feel that inner gallop in my veins

That stirring, that heating, that happens from

Refusing to forget

That the part of us that sinks into peace

Is the same part of us that burns.

- by Amely Greeven

Jackson resident Amely Greeven started out as a fashion journalist, became a health and wellness author, and now writes about spirituality and the sublime. Find her at www.thereishopeinbeauty.com.

7 STARS FOR 7 BEARS

A Praise Poem for our Teton Stars: Mama Grizzlies 399 and 610

                                              by Lyn Dalebout

                              

1. our Bears are numbered

610 and 399

a daughter and her mother

five cubs in tow

combined

these Bears were given numbers

the first time they were trapped

marked with ear tags~choke chains

a way of being tracked

2. we’ve watched them trade one cub

traveling

between two moms

sometimes it seems all 7

are functioning as one

3. Bears are sidereal Sagittarians

born in the underground spring

hatched beneath the Earth

in the sign of

vision

birthing the new dream

4. we are blessed by

Bear ambassadors

fierce love and protection

inhabits their souls

Grizzly Mothers

Bear Mothers

in honoring

them

we become more

whole

5. Ursa Major   Ursa Minor

7 stars in each heavenly Bear

Ursa Major    Ursa Minor

Great Bear and Little Bear

celestial Bears   earthly Bears

mirror one another

emissaries

visionaries

~how to live amongst each Other~

6.are Bears days numbered?

indeed

if we ignore their needs

vast room to roam

              free

hundreds of miles to move

             unseen

our Bears are numbered

so in deeds

we must hold strong

guarding the wildness of territory

more land

that’s what keeps them from harm

7.               These 7 Bears

                  are our 7 Stars

                     thankfully

             ~they hold our hearts~

 

Lyn Dalebout lives in Moose Wyoming in Jackson Hole beneath the majestic Grand Teton mountains. For more information about her astrological services, teaching, writing and poetry, please visit her web site: www.earthwordskyword.com, lyn@earthwordskyword.com

Exquisite Praying Mantis

In my grandfather’s garden on St. Mary’s Street,

they crept, stemmy creatures with Popeye arms.

Every day at lunch we assembled toy blocks

with letters around the chipmunk’s fountain.

Eating peaches, juice running down our chins,

sticking fingers tossing pits in the grass,

watching the clouds fly by and imagining the

exquisite animals,

feeling the clouds filling my eyes, throwing

all the strange creatures into shadows of shapes.

The winged creatures donned their shadows,

landing beneath the clouds in peace,

two and two flew throughout the night,

and all five felt the magic of flight.

- by Mary Lynn Callahan, Tammy Christel, Meg Daly, Alice Grant, Sue Mortensen, Benj Sinclair, and Olivia Wheeler

This poem was created at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in conjunction with the “Exquisite Animal” exhibit, which runs through February 5, 2012, at 2820 Rungius Road.

Exquisite Heron

The great blue heron broke her driftwood pose;

her wings plumed wide, over the stream she rose.

Rising high above the crystal waters,

a journey to a far off place she goes.

Floating on the air

the eagles’ wings flow,

gnashing their teeth

on a rumpus they go.

Glistening in the moonlight,

the blue, blue moonlight,

shimmering beams of stars

dance gleefully in azure.

Points of light coming from

how far? No one is sure.

- by Meleta Buckstaff, Carrie Geraci, Amy Goicoechea, Jennifer Hoffman, Doug Miller, Terry Roice, and Carol Schneebeck

This poem was created at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in conjunction with the “Exquisite Animal” exhibit, which runs through February 5, 2012, at 2820 Rungius Road.

Exquisite Chickadee

Dapper chap in your cap

and ebony cravat, sing, sing!

Though darkness brings fearsome shadows,

within the blackness there be stars.

So sing into the night,

sing until the sky shines like diamonds.

In the dawn, the cold rocks grace your skin.

Pick up the red balloon and run.

And the sun

calls all beings into life.

Livin’ the dream!

- by Meg Daly, Kjera Strom Henrie, Elizabeth Kingwill, Rob Kingwill, and Abbie Miller

This poem was created at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in conjunction with the “Exquisite Animal” exhibit, which runs through February 5, 2012, at 2820 Rungius Road.